Chapter 3 Spirit Spring Water
Lin Jiaojiao covered her face, her eyes wide with disbelief. The burning pain stunned her for a moment, then a sharp question escaped her lips: "Ruan Ning! What right do you have to hit me?!"
She has never been laid a finger on in her entire life!
Lin Wanyun's usual gentle mask shattered with a "crack." She stepped forward to shield her daughter behind her, her eyes like poisoned needles, piercing Ruan Ning. Her voice, though still trying to maintain its usual tone, carried an uncontrollable chill: "Ningning! How could you hit your sister? Can't you talk things out? Jiaojiao meant well!"
The afternoon sun in the parking lot was a bit dazzling. Ruan Ning stood in the light and shadow, her posture upright. Her once clear eyes were now like a frozen lake, reflecting the distorted faces of the mother and daughter opposite her.
She gently shook the hand that had just hit the person, as if it had been stained with something unclean.
"Good intentions?" Ruan Ning scoffed, her voice not loud, but clearly reaching the other's ears, carrying undisguised sarcasm. "Good intentions of coveting someone else's mother's belongings? Or good intentions of treating me like a fool?"
Her gaze swept over the velvet box containing the diamond bracelet in Lin Jiaojiao's hand, and the contempt in her eyes was almost overflowing.
"Lin Jiaojiao, you and your mother's little schemes should just stay hidden in your stomach and fester, instead of showing them to me to disgust me." Ruan Ning took a step forward, her aura suddenly becoming fierce, a murderous aura condensed after rolling through mountains of corpses and seas of blood in the apocalypse, which made Lin Jiaojiao subconsciously take half a step back, and even Lin Wanyun felt a tightness in her chest.
“That bracelet was left to me by my mother,” Ruan Ning said coldly. “Who do you think you are, to even touch it? You think you can exchange it for your broken chain? You think you can fob me off like a beggar?”
"You..." Lin Jiaojiao trembled with anger, her face flushing red and then turning pale. She pointed at Ruan Ning, "Ruan Ning, are you crazy! How dare you talk to me like that! Dad won't let you get away with this!"
"Oh?" Ruan Ning raised an eyebrow, her tone calm yet carrying a deadly threat. "Then you can go and tell him. And let him know how you and your daughter schemed to steal the last bit of his deceased wife's memory from his daughter."
Lin Wanyun's expression changed drastically. Ruan Chenyang's feelings for his ex-wife were complicated, but if the matter of the belongings became public, they would definitely be in the wrong, and it might even damage the image she had cultivated in Ruan's father's eyes over the years.
"Ningning, you've misunderstood. We just..." Lin Wanyun tried to salvage the situation.
"Shut up." Ruan Ning interrupted her without any politeness, her eyes like knives. "Lin Wanyun, stop with your hypocritical act. I was foolish before, deceived by you all. But from now on—"
Her gaze slowly swept across their bewildered faces, and she spoke each word with resounding conviction:
"No one is allowed to touch what's mine. Not even your disgusting schemes."
After saying that, she stopped looking at the mother and daughter, whose faces were ashen, and deftly opened the car door and got into the driver's seat.
The engine started, and the car sped away, leaving Lin Jiaojiao covering her face and stamping her feet in frustration, and Lin Wanyun standing there with eyes so sinister they could drip water.
As the scenery outside the car window rushed by, Ruan Ning glanced at the gradually shrinking figures through the rearview mirror, a cold smile curving her lips.
This slap was just the beginning.
The best is yet to come.
The car drove into the underground parking garage of the high-end apartment building in the city center, which was heavily guarded. Ruan Ning carried the last batch of purchased supplies and went straight up the elevator.
With a soft "beep," the elevator went straight to her floor. The one-elevator-one-household design ensured absolute privacy.
Pushing open the heavy security door, what comes into view is no longer the previous simple and stylish decoration, but a brand-new "safe house".
All the windows were replaced with thickened bulletproof glass, and a sturdy metal grille was added to the inside. The curtains were made of heavy blackout material, which could completely isolate the inside from the outside when drawn.
The main door has been replaced with a bank vault-level security door, with heavy hinges that require considerable force to push open.
This was another important task she had been doing over the past few days, besides stockpiling supplies—transforming her little-known secret hideout into a fortified stronghold.
She put down what she was holding, locked the door, and carefully checked all the reinforcements on the doors and windows. Only after confirming that everything was in order did she slowly breathe a sigh of relief.
This will be her most important stronghold in the early stages of the apocalypse.
She will never go back to that so-called "home".
Thinking of her father, Ruan Chenyang, the last trace of warmth in Ruan Ning's heart completely cooled down.
In her past life, after her death, her soul wandered and witnessed Ruan Chenyang's initial shock and anger after learning that Lin Jiaojiao had pushed her into the zombie horde last only a moment before he was overwhelmed by the cruelty of reality and his own cowardice.
Instead of seeking justice for her, he chose to remain silent and accept the situation, swayed by Lin Jiaojiao's hypocritical tears and promises that "I will take good care of my father in the future, and my spatial abilities will also make my father's life comfortable."
How ridiculous. The so-called father-daughter bond is as thin as a sheet of paper in the face of survival and self-interest.
Because Lin Jiaojiao was his illegitimate daughter, all those years of "treating her as his own" were merely a performance to maintain a facade of harmony and to alleviate his inner guilt. Once his own safety and comfort were threatened, she, his legitimate daughter, could be discarded at any time.
Selfish and callous to this extent.
Ruan Ning walked to the window and looked down through the gaps in the metal grille at the still bustling city below, its neon lights shimmering. This prosperity would last for less than forty-eight hours.
Her eyes were cold, devoid of any emotion.
She turned and walked into the bedroom, locked the door, and with a thought, entered the jade bracelet space.
The space remained tranquil, the earth damp, and the spring gurgling. The white mist swirling around the spring seemed thicker than before, and with each breath, a faint warmth seeped into one's limbs, relieving the fatigue of days of travel.
She walked to the spring, scooped up a handful of water, and found it cool and sweet. She carefully took a sip, and a warm current, more noticeable than the mist from her breath, instantly spread out, not only dispelling her physical fatigue but also invigorating her spirit.
"This spring water... is indeed extraordinary." A hint of surprise flashed in Ruan Ning's eyes.
In her past life, Lin Jiaojiao used this space to fake her supernatural abilities and enjoyed immense fame. However, Ruan Ning vaguely felt that Lin Jiaojiao did not seem to have fully explored the secrets of this space. At least, she had not heard of Lin Jiaojiao making any special use of the spring water.
Perhaps it is because I am the true heir to my mother's bloodline that I can perceive and utilize the power of space more deeply?
Without further hesitation, Ruan Ning took off her coat, sat cross-legged beside the spring, closed her eyes, and began to try to guide the warm current to circulate in her body.
She didn't understand any cultivation methods; she could only rely on instinct and use her mind to sense and control things.
Time seems to flow more slowly in space.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but when she opened her eyes again, the whole world seemed much clearer. Her body felt light, her senses were sharp, and she could even vaguely catch fragments of conversations between pedestrians on the street far away outside the window.
She raised her hand, clenched her fist, and felt a surge of power far greater than before coursing through her muscles.
"Not enough," Ruan Ning muttered to herself.
She knew that in the early stages of the apocalypse, zombies were slow-moving and relatively weak. With her current physical condition and knowledge of the future, she could protect herself if she was careful.
However, in the later stages of the apocalypse, evolved zombies will appear, faster and stronger, and there may even be mutants with special abilities. Meanwhile, superhumans among humans will gradually emerge.
To truly control one's own destiny, relying solely on spatial storage and prophecy is insufficient; one must become powerful oneself.
She glanced at the mountain of supplies piled up in the space, then felt the growing power within her body, her eyes resolute.
There's still a little over a day left.
She decided not to go out again before the apocalypse officially broke out. She would stay in this safe house and use the space spring water and this time to improve her physical and mental abilities as much as possible.
She quickly ate some high-energy food, then opened her phone and started ordering takeout. She ordered a whole bunch of her favorite dishes, snacks, milk tea, and so on. While waiting for the delivery, she returned to the space spring and continued her clumsy but effective "cultivation."
Rest when you're tired, eat when you're hungry, and once you've recovered your energy, continue guiding that warm current.
Repeatedly.
The sky outside changed from azure to dusky yellow, then to pitch black, and then gradually turned a pale white.
The city was still asleep, or rather, enjoying the last moments of calm before the storm.
Ruan Ning stood in front of the reinforced window, looking at the horizon where the morning light was just beginning to break, her eyes as sharp as a sword about to be drawn.
She knew that when the sun rose overhead again, the bloody catastrophe that would sweep the globe would arrive right on time.
And she was already prepared.
This time, she was no longer Ruan Ning, who was at the mercy of others, betrayed by her closest relatives, and died tragically.
This time, she will watch as those who owe her struggle and... repay their debts in the apocalypse!
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